Halloween Blocks Swap

I participated in Jane's Halloween Spooktacular Block Swap and these are the blocks I've received. A big thank you to all the ladies who participated and especially to Jane for all her hard work. I'm looking forward to playing around with these blocks - although they won't be together in time for this Halloween, but maybe the next...

Quilt As You Go Class

It's not all work and bushwalking. Yesterday (Saturday) I went to a quilt-as-you-go class with the lovely and talented Glenda Olesen (no blog that I know of) who is an accredited teacher, judge and quilt valuer with the Western Australian Quilters' Association (WAQA). She showed us several different ways to join quilt blocks or quilt sections.

I chose to try a method using overlaid sashing strips both front and back.

Of course I didn't have anything prepared, so during the week I quickly whipped up some hourglass blocks from a pack of 7inch charm squares and did some simple quilting. It will be a 4x4 table topper. This is as far as I got in the class time. This will not be a UFO! It is rough as anything but will work overall.

After determining the size of my sashing, I trimmed back the blocks, butted the batting together and zig-zagged them together. My blocks are about 6 1/4 unfinished so I chose a one inch sashing.

The back of the quilt is sashed as well, but with a smaller sashing than the front so those seam lines won't show on the front. I put these on by eye and then they didn't match up exactly, but I'm not going to worry about that as it blends in well and won't be 'in your face' unless you look really close.

These fabrics are just yummy. With spring in the air it's all about purple - when the iris's bloom you know it's a good time of year. The light coloured fabric has a hint of shine that I just can't capture in a photo. Pity only one little square of it...

Not much sewing for today. After church I have four pair of pants to hem for my husband and of course all the household chores I didn't do yesterday (sigh). No housework fairy here....

Hope your weekend is full of sunshine and laughter and a little sewing for good luck!

Cheers

Shari

Bush Walk

While I'm working like a mad woman lately, it's not all about work. Sunday we had the opportunity to go on a lovely community bush walk called "Trek the Trail". While it did rain we did have 'lengthy fine periods' and managed to have a lovely morning. So here are some shots of our beautiful Australian bush. The old young guy at the end is my Mr Fixit. This is only 10 minutes from me! The interesting grass trees used to be called blackboys - but not anymore. Read about them here.

Hope you've had time to enjoy and appreciate the natural environment in your neighbourhood!

Cheers

Shari

Spring Flowers

We were at the in-laws on Sunday for Father's Day and I snatched literally a minute to snap these photos... the light was fading so not much time... their garden is a wonderful mix of natives with a few other flowers thrown in...

Today is windy and rainy - not much sunshine about...